UGBS 105 Introduction to Public Administration

College of Education

School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 – 2016/2017

UGBS 105

Introduction to Public

Administration

Session 3 – Bureaucracy and Public Administration

Lecturer: Dr. Daniel Appiah, UGBS

Contact Information: [email protected]

Dr. Daniel Appiah, UGBS

Session 3

Bureaucracy and Public Administration

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Learning Objectives

By the end of this session, students should understand:

i.Understand the concept of bureaucracy

ii.Identify and understand Max Weber’s principles of

Bureaucratic Administration

iii.Understand the advantages and disadvantages of

bureaucracy

iv.Propose solutions to problems of public sector Bureaucratic

Administration in Ghana

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What type of institutions of Public Administration can help public

administrators who have different values to work together to

achieve common organizational goals?

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What is a Bureaucracy?

The word bureaucracy is derived from two greek words;

“bureau” and “Kratos.” The word “bureau” refers to the

office, and the word “kratos” means power or rule

Generally, the concept “bureaucracy” can be

understood to mean the power of an office holder to

rule

There are public and private Bureaucratic organizations:

It is important to note that the concept cut across both

public and private organizations 5


Three Forms of Organizational Authority

According to Max Weber, a German sociologist and

historian, the history of humankind is a struggle for

power and “It is useful to classify the types of

domination according to the kind of claim to legitimacy

typically made by each” to maintain power:

1.Charismatic authority

2.Traditional authority

3.Legal-rational authority

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Charismatic Authority

•Charismatic authority rests “…on devotion to the exceptional

sanctity, heroism, or exemplary character of an individual person, and

of the normative patterns or order revealed or ordained by him”

•A charismatic leader “…is considered extraordinary and treated as

endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least specifically

exceptional powers or qualities”

•Charismatic authority According to Weber is not just the possession of

personal characteristics, but the extraordinary characteristics

attributed to the individual by others

•Dominant forms of orientation of action is mixture of effectual and

value-rational orientation

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Traditional Authority

•Traditional authority rests “…on an established belief in the

sanctity of immemorial traditions and the legitimacy of

those exercising authority under them”

•Examples of traditional authority:

Obeying your father not to bring a girlfriend home because

society says you have to respect his authority as your father

Obeying the customary rules of chieftaincy as a system of

authority because they have been upheld by the society

since time immemorial

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Chieftaincy Administration as a System of Traditional

Authority Supported by Local Communities in Ghana

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Legal-Rational Authority

Legal-rational authority rests “on the belief in the legality of

enacted rules and the rightness of those elevated to authority

under such rules to issue commands”

•This form of authority is equal to the rule of law where those who

issue the commands are themselves subject to the enacted legal

rules. Authority is administered in a bureaucratic manner where

there is impersonality

•Domination form of orientation of action is instrumental

rationality. It is not identical with democracy, it can be

democratic or it can be authoritarian. It can be a constitutional

monarchy. You obey the rules of the game rather than a person

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Principles of Bureaucracy

Max Weber outlined six principles that characterize a legal-rational

system of administrative authority which he referred to as a

bureaucracy:

1.Written legal rules of administrative conduct

2.Merit-based recruitment of administrative personnel

3.Impersonal administration of affairs

4.Hierarchy of Offices based on levels of graded authority

5.Specialization of work based on expert training

6.Security of tenure of employment until retirement 11


Max Weber’s Justification for Legal-

Rational System of Bureaucratic

Authority

• "From a purely technical point of view, a bureaucracy is

capable of attaining the highest degree of efficiency,

and is in this sense formally the most rational known

means of exercising authority over human beings. It is

superior to any other form in precision, in stability, in

the stringency of its discipline, and in its reliability. It

thus makes possible a particularly high degree of

calculability of results for the heads of the organization

and for those acting in relation to it. It is finally

superior both in intensive efficiency and in the scope of

its operations and is formally capable of application to

all kinds of administrative tasks” (Weber, 1922)

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Max Weber and the Types of Institutions

of Human Organization

Max Weber’s legal rational authority is equal

to an organization with formal-legal rules of

authority

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Do the type of rules of organization matter

for administrative effectiveness & efficiency?

Do the type of institution matter for development? Do the type of

rules of organization that govern the actions of public officials matter

for administrative effectiveness and efficiency?

�Is Max Weber right? Weber argued that public administration systems

with formal-legal rules of bureaucratic authority are more effective,

efficient, transparent, accountable and promotes economic

development than those with formal non-legal rules, informal non-legal

rules, and informal legal rules

Comparative analysis of institutions and development: In the next

two pages is a table showing a ranking of the ease of doing business in

some countries. Try to find out whether the best performing countries

have well-functioning formal-legal rules of administration than the

worst performing countries 14


Conclusion: Effective and Efficient

Bureaucracy Promotes Development

The countries that have

dysfunctional public

bureaucracies are unable to

effectively and efficiently

facilitate business start-ups,

enforce property rights,

adjudicate disputes and

ensure the rule of law have

failed to create capital for

the promotion of social,

economic and political

development!

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Documents

UGBS 105 Introduction to Public Administration